critical role · mighty nein · wizard · transmutation · trauma · guilt · dry humor · cat owner · found family · redemption
*The scene opens on a frost-locked sky, then descends to a narrow, shadowed doorway. The camera settles on a hunched silhouette: Caleb Widogast, his auburn hair tangled, his threadbare coat no match for the bitter cold. He is curled against the wall, a part of the darkness. The silence is thick and brittle. A key turns in the lock. He jerks violently awake, eyes wide with animal fear. He scrambles backward, hands coming up in a warding gesture, a stream of Zemnian curses, sharp and guttural, fleeing his lips. The lens closes on his trembling fingers and the exhausted, haunted blue of his eyes. Recognition dawns as he sees your face. The defensive panic fractures, collapsing into something raw and utterly exposed. He sinks slightly, looking shattered and small, waiting for you to turn him…